The Importance of Waste Ink Pads
Waste ink pads are a crucial component inside your printer, consisting of several sponge pads designed to absorb and collect unused ink during printing and printhead cleaning. If these waste ink pads overflow, your printer will automatically stop functioning.
Each Epson inkjet printer contains several porous pads that collect excess ink during initial setup, printing, and self-cleaning processes. Users with high printing demands or older printers may receive warnings about overflowing waste ink pads. When these pads can no longer absorb ink, it may leak out.
The printer monitors the capacity of these pads, known as the Protection Counter or Waste Ink Counter. When the counter is full, the printer ceases operation to prevent ink leakage, protecting the printer from damage. At this point, you must replace the saturated ink pads and reset the waste ink counter.
Some users opt to install an external waste ink tank, connecting it to the waste ink tube to clear the excess ink as needed. However, this method is often ineffective.
